The Cross River State
Government says it will revive the declining cocoa production in the state as alternative source of revenue for sustainable development.
The Cross River Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Prof. Anthony Eneji, disclosed this in Calabar while inaugurating a 17-member Cocoa Allocation Committee.
Eneji expressed government’s concern about the steady decline in cocoa production which stemmed from the low yield from government-owned cocoa estates as a result of aged cocoa trees.
“To stop this decline, we need to take immediate steps that will ensure a sustainable future development of the cocoa industry in Cross River State, ‘’ he said.
According to him, government has a robust plan to increase agricultural production and processing, especially in cocoa.
He described cocoa as a major cash crop at the local and international markets and assured that the state would sustain and improve production by replanting and rehabilitating government-owned cocoa estates using the Small Holder Cocoa Allocation Scheme.
He charged the committee to conduct a credible and transparent allocation exercise that would facilitate the envisaged replanting and rehabilitation programme, stressing that was the only way government could achieve its set objective.
“The era of allocating plots to non-existing farmers or ghost names is over; It is now time for real business, not business as usual, ‘’ he said.
Eneji said that out of seven distinct cocoa estates with estimated 10,000 hectares created by the then Eastern Region Government, only four estates in Etung Local Government area were currently functioning.
According to him, this has brought the total holdings of the state to a little abovAAe 4,000 hectares.
He appealed for the cooperation of the landlord communities to enable the committee succeed, while assuring them that arrears owed them by previous administrations would be paid soon.
Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communciations, Dr Austin Tam-George (right), exchanging pleasantries with Engr Emechebe Jonas of Treasure FM and the Head of News, South-South Zone of the media outfit, during the Commissioner’s visit to the media house in Port Harcourt on Wednesday Photo: Egberi A.Sampson
